Title IX Panel Contemplates Easing 'Proportionality' Test

A Department of Education panel studying Title IX floated ideas last
week that, if put into place, could drastically alter the way colleges
and universities determine if they're fairly providing athletic
opportunities to both men and women.

At a Dec. 3-4 meeting in Philadelphia that focused primarily on
higher education, the 15-member Commission on Opportunities in
Athletics talked about ways to correct what some believe are problems
with the 30-year-old statute that prohibits sex discrimination at
educational institutions that accept federal funds. At a previous
meeting, in September, the board heard testimony from precollegiate
officials indicating that, while some girls lag behind in the quality
of athletic facilities, opportunities for participation are generally
more equitable than in higher education.

The meeting last week was the latest in a series of discussions
since this past summer that will culminate in a report containing
recommendations for changes, due to Secretary of Education Rod Paige by
Jan. 31. The panel is scheduled to meet again in Washington Jan. 8.

Currently, most colleges and universities use a proportionality test
to determine whether they're complying with the law. Generally, the
test requires that the percentage of female athletics on a school's
teams be roughly equal to the percentage of females in the overall
school population.

But some male athletes have complained that the approach has led
colleges and universities to make cuts in men's sports—including
the elimination of some entire teams in sports such as wrestling and
gymnastics—to get the percentages right. But some women's
advocates say female athletes still aren't treated equally to their
male counterparts.

During the Philadelphia meeting, some commissioners proposed that
schools use surveys instead of proportionality to gauge the level of
female interest in athletics and use the results as a guide for setting
the threshold proportions.

Commissioner Deborah A. Yow, the athletics director at the
University of Maryland College Park, suggested that a 50-50 ratio,
regardless of enrollment figures, might be the way to go, while
allowing some percentage of variation, possibly a 55-to-45 range.

Other ideas were to count only college students of "traditional age"
in calculating proportionality. Some colleges have a high percentage of
older students, many of them women, who likely would not participate in
athletics, but who are currently included in Title IX-related
calculations.

"This was a very preliminary draft of what someday might be
recommendations," said commission co-chairman Ted Leland, the director
of athletics at Stanford University. "I thought there was some really
exciting and maybe even scary stuff."

'Extremely Dangerous'

But Cary Groth, a commission member and the athletic director at
Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, said she'd like to see more
emphasis placed on the other ways schools can comply with Title IX of
the Education Amendments of 1972.

Schools may also demonstrate compliance by having expanded women's
sports in response to interest on campus, or by showing that female
athletes have been fully accommodated by existing programs. But many
schools do not use those approaches because proportionality is
currently the only method considered impervious to legal
challenges.

Ms. Groth said she would like to see the Education Department issue
more definitive guidance on how schools can meet these tests instead of
relying solely on proportionality. But she cautioned that none of the
proposals discussed in Philadelphia would prevent men's teams from
being cut for financial reasons. "If you change Title IX, it doesn't
guarantee that those programs aren't going to continue to be dropped,"
she said.

Some of those watching the process said they were uncomfortable with
the direction the panel seemed to be taking. Jocelyn Samuels, the vice
president of the National Women's Law Center, based in Washington, said
changes being discussed could have negative impacts on women and girls,
both on the athletic field and in the classroom

"I was just appalled by the tone and tenor of it," she said of the
possible direction. "A lot of what they're proposing is extremely
dangerous."

On the other side of the debate, Mike Moyer, the executive director
of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, also has concerns.

The discussions in Philadelphia were wide-ranging, said Commissioner
Percy Bates, a professor of education at the University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor. He said he ultimately did not expect everyone on the panel
to agree on the recommendations that will be made to Secretary
Paige.

"The only thing we're all in agreement on," he said, "is that Title
IX is a good thing."

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